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Women in Horror Month: Graphic Novel Review: An Elvira-straganza, Part 2! The Shape of Elvira, vol. 1 by David Avallone, art by Fran Strukan (issues 1-3) and Pasquale Qualano (issue 4)

cover art for The Shape of Elvira by David Avallone

( Amazon.com )

 

The Shape of Elvira, vol. 1 by David Avallone, art by Fran Strukan (issues 1-3) and Pasquale Qualano (issue 4)

Dynamite, 2021

ISBN-13: 9781524111977

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, comiXology (for single and TPB digital issues), preorder (release date is May 4, 2021)

 

The Shape of Elvira is a one-volume detour from the main Elvira series, reviewed in part 1 of our Elvira-straganza. This limited series collects issues 1-4.

 

Issue #1: Chapter One: Diving In: Elvira has landed a role in “The Heart is a Black Lagoon”, an art film about the romance of a human and a gill monster. Her co-star, Gill, is introduced as a method actor, preferring to remain in costume and character at all times. Director Billy Bullworth runs a tight ship, so there is no real opportunity for the stars to get to know each other. Will there be an award, or something else in their future with this peculiar film?

 

Issue #2: Chapter Two: Love Means Never Having to Say You’re Soggy: After an intense day of shooting, that glass of champagne goes right to her head. She dreams of a romantic, yet silly, rendezvous with her scaly co-star, only to wake up finding him hovering over Elvira in in her bed. The Queen of Halloween’s co-star makes a swift retreat as Elvira tries to put things together from the evening. The issue ends with a car chase between Elvira and… the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife?

 

Issue #3: Chapter Three: Waterwhirled: Elvira, and everyone else, discovers Gill’s secret. Plus, a murder has taken place on the set.

 

Issue #4: Chapter Four: It’s A Soft G: Gill and Elvira awaken after a blow dart incident to find themselves strapped to metal tables. When they discover the film was a front for something far more nefarious, everyone learns more about Gill and just what he can do. A breakout of epic proportion ensues in the conclusion to this four-part miniseries.

 

I’m glad this was a short departure from the main Elvira series. It was fun and campy, and included a little bit of actual romance. I think it had just enough to warrant a separate storyline, but I don’t think it would have made a good addition to the main series. I would recommend this title to those readers who want to read everything in a series. Highly recommended for Elvira fans and lovers of campy horror.

Contains: a plunging neckline, plenty of innuendo, and puns galore

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on February 10, 2021 by , Reply

Women in Horror Month: An Elvira-stravaganza! Graphic Novel Review: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, vols. 1 & 2 by David Avallone, art by Dave Acosta and The Shape of Elvira by David Avallone, art by Fran Strukan and Pasquale Qualano

cover art for Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, vol. 1: Timescream

( Amazon.com )

 Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, vol. 1: Timescream by David Avallone, art by Dave Acosta

Dynamite, 2018-2019

ISBN-13: 9781524108533 (vol.1)

Available: Paperback, Kindle, comiXology (for single and TPB digital issues)

 

I grew up watching Elvira, Mistress of the Dark introducing wonderful and often terrible horror movies, and then starring in a few of her own. I fell in love with her humor and sass, not taking anyone’s crap and going after what she wanted. She holds a special place in my horror-loving heart. When Dynamite announced Elvira would be getting her own comic series starting in 2018, I knew I had to pick it up. I have been collecting the single issues, and what follows is a review of all of them to date. They have now been published as graphic novels, in two volumes. Volume One collects issues 1-4.

 

#1: Timescream, Chapter 1: Frankenstein is the Name of the Doctor: After the leading man in Elvira’s new movie has a wardrobe malfunction (don’t worry, it’s only his dentures falling out), she goes back to her trailer for a long-needed break. After being sucked into a mysterious coffin in her trailer, the Mistress of the Dark meets Mary Wollstonecraft, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron during the infamous weekend that led to Mary’s penning Frankenstein. They find themselves on the run when Vlad the Impaler crashes the party. Elvira’s journey doesn’t end there, as she finds herself meeting another horror legend after she once again falls into the time traveling coffin.

 

#2: Timescream, Chapter 2: Nevermore!: Elvira is transported to 1838 Philadelphia, coming face to face with one of the greatest poets of horror, Edgar Allan Poe. While are sharing some absinthe at Poe’s favourite pub, Vlad busts in the door and demands that Elvira, who he addresses as Witch, return him to his own time. Will she and Poe come up with the perfect plan to get everyone back to their respective timelines? No, but they’ll sure have fun trying.

 

#3: Timescream, Chapter 3: Stoker? I Hardly Know ‘er!: Elvira time-traveling adventures take her to the author of Dracula himself, Bram Stoker. His wife, Florence, is less than impressed with the Mistress of the Dark upon their meeting. Vlad bursts onto the scene and soon mesmerizes Florence, running away with her. When Bram and Elvira attempt to rescue her, Dr. Faust appears to reveal his part of the story.

 

#4: Timescream, Chapter 4: Fauster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!: Elvira finally gets back to Los Angeles, but unfortunately to the wrong time. She’s dropped right in the middle of the filming of the iconic Frankenstein with the mysterious Dr. Faust and Vlad in pursuit. What ensues is a chase through various Hollywood film lots, much to the frustration of the directors and actors everywhere. One of them is running out of time…

 

 

cover art for Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, vol. 2: Elvira's Inferno

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Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, vol. 2: Elvira’s Inferno by David Avallone, art by Dave Acosta

Dynamite, 2019-2020

ISBN-13: 9781524112677

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, comiXology

 

#5: Elvira’s Inferno: Canto One: Elvira and Faust are both dumped in Hell after running into Mephistopheles. Dr. Faust, living with an angry, drunk, and violent Helen of Troy, is left to his personal hell when Mephistopheles agrees to lead her to talk with the Devil himself to get out of Hell.

 

#6: Elvira’s Inferno: Canto Two: Elvira makes her way down to the manager of Hell. Literally. She talks to a demonic whip wielding task master dressed in business attire looking for the way to her destiny. Her journey to Cerberus is fruitful, and she discovers a way to tame the beast to gain passage. She is finally met by her guide through the remaining circles of Hell, a man dressed in plain robes named Glenn.

 

Spring Special: Elvira in…Drive-In of the Dead: Elvira is the horror hostess at a genre film festival at the local drive-in when she discovers the opportunity to star in a film produced by the famous George Rottmero, who makes extremely most realistic horror movies. She finds out the disturbing secret behind the producer’s success, but it may cost Elvira her life. The second story in the Spring Special is “Elvira in…The Satan 500”.  After an eventful trip to the grocery store, Elvira is greeted by outside by Satan who challenges her to a car race. If she loses, she must marry him. She’s got one hope, and he’s sitting in her vehicle and calls himself Jason Voorhees.

 

#7: Elvira’s Inferno: Canto Three Elvira and Glenn, with Faust on their heels, travel further into Hell. Elvira and Glenn face the Minotaur, the traffic jam of the damned, and other unthinkable horrors before they can deal with the Devil.

 

#8: Elvira’s Inferno: Canto Four: Elvira finally meets Satan himself, with the watchful guidance of Glenn at her side, and her journey reaches its amazing conclusion. Our beloved Queen of Halloween must plead her case to the Devil to get out of Hell. Armed with her sassy wit and with Glenn and his secret identity by her side, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?

 

#9: Vroom Vroom, Witches!: Elvira, back in her own time and back on the movie set, she thinks she can finally get back to normal (well, normal for her) life. Little does she know that an evil coven of warlocks is attempting to enact a ritual that may mean her doom.

 

#10: Witches Get Stitches: A cult has taken Elvira to a hospital and has stolen her Darkness, her source of power. Her iconic dress and roadster even fall to the effects. At her time of need, she meets the mysterious superhero, Soul Survivor, who has also been on the chase for the cult. Together, they head out to face the cult members and regain the Queen of Halloween’s Darkness.

 

#11: Witch Way to the Apocalypse?: In the last issue, Elvira became separated from Soul Survivor and found herself magicked back to her house, Gonk greeting her upon arrival. She hops in her white roadster and tracks the cult to the Dark Ages Dinner Theatre where she faces her most frightening challenge yet: amusement park mascots! Can she get to the Soul Survivor in time?

 

#12: Vlad to See You Again: What, did you think Elvira was safe from the Impaler? Elvira and Soul Survivor are ready to vanquish the cult, but the cult is successful in summoning Vlad from Hell. He’s not having it. He captures our Mistress of the Dark but may not like the results when Elvira discovers the way she can regain her darkness.

 

Avallone and Acosta make a fantastic team on the Elvira: Mistress of the Dark series. Avallone captures the campy sass of Elvira, which of course is full of double entendres and terrible puns, all while weaving a compelling tale that keeps the reader’s interest through each issue. Acosta’s art is a great complement to the stories. He is able to depict the likeness of Elvira perfectly. Both volumes are highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on February 9, 2021 by , Reply

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth illustrated by Sara Lautman

Cover of Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth illustrated by Sara Lautman

William Morrow & Company, 2020

ISBN-13: 978-0062942852

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audibook, audio CD ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

 

Emily M. Danforth, author of the YA novel The Miseducation of Cameron Post, stretches her boundaries in this unsettling, haunted novel that reveals a buried history of queer romance and horror and some seriously creepy hornets.

The story moves smoothly from events in 1902 that led to the deaths of three students at the Brookhants School for Girs, tied to an uninhibited and shocking memoir by openly bisexual feminist Mary McLane, to a present day where author Merritt Emmons has written a book about the deaths that is about to be made into a sapphic “Blair Witch” style horror movie.

Two of the girls who died were co-founders of a club called The Plain Bad Heroines, which admires Mary’s unapologetic attitude, are found dead in the woods with a copy of the book,  attacked by a swarm of hornets in an orchard of rotting fruit. The third acquires it after their deaths and is literally poisoned by reading it near a plant in the campus greenhouse where she is caretaker. The headmistress confiscates it, convinced that it is cursed. As the students abandon the school, both the headmistress and her relationships begin to disintegrate, and trapped almost alone in a snowstorm, it’s hard to tell how much of a grip on reality she has left.  She’s also left remembering her college days, where a love affair led to her eventual inheritance of Brookhants, chosen by her husband because of its reputation as a spiritually important location, in a very strange manner.

The horror movie based on Merritt’s book will star the popular actress Harper Harper and the less well-known actress Audrey Wood. Merritt initially is starstruck by Harper and they hit it off; her interactions with Audrey are more negative. The movie will be filmed at the actual Brookhants School and on the grounds, adding atmospheric creepiness.  Once the filming starts, it seems nothing can go right– it’s almost like the production is cursed. This leaves Harper, Audrey, and Merritt, a lot of time for exploration on the Brookhants estate. Black apples, rotting vegetation, and ominous swarms of hornets in the woods ratchet up the tension, and eventually the story behind the Brookhants curse is revealed.

This is a doorstop of a book. After its tense begining, it slows down for some time and, had I not known there would be a payoff, I might have set it down. I think a large chunk of the Hollywood segment could have been easily eliminated  to slim it down. This is where a lot of the present day characters’ personalities are established, and Merritt’s romantic interests start to develop, but it is just too drawn out.

Danforth isn’t subtle about centering lesbian and bisexual characters. It is even a point of contention in the casting of the movie, where Merritt objects to Audrey playing a lesbian role, assuming she must be straight, to have Audrey come out and say she’s bisexual. The headmistress’ memories of inheriting the school are all related to the romantic love she and her partner had for each other. even as she turns on her.

Plain Bad Heroines is also about as metafictional as you can get; it’s a fictional story inspired by a book by a real person, containing illustrations and images of what I’m pretty sure are news articles about the book, that a fictional author has written a fictional nonfiction book about, that is being made into a fictional movie being filmed found-footage style, as if it is nonfiction. Both the director and Harper Harper use social media to affect the narrative, so Harper’s Instagram posts document the movie shoot and all of its “cursed” problems for her followers, creating a Blair Witch effect of convincing the audience for the movie that the haunting is real. Even the people around Audrey and Merritt are in on the gaslighting, so that none of them know whether they can trust each other or reality. It’s clever, and the unreliability of the people around them and the way the reader knows the three women are being manipulated is distracting, but it doesn’t detract from the sense of atmospheric creepiness, dread, and tension, with hornets and rotting vegetation always around. You will never feel the same about hornets after reading this book.

Danforth actually has an author’s note where she discusses her discovery of Mary Maclane in researching hidden sapphic history, and that she wanted to bring that to light through Plain Bad Heroines. I never had heard of her and I found this fascinating. Unlike The Miseducation of Cameron Post this is not a YA novel, although it might be appreciated by some older YA readers, but certainly it is an original book with plenty of dread and some well-drawn lesbian and bisexual characters that will draw in readers of historical and metafictional horror, Hollywood, and haunted houses. It won’t be for everyone, but this book will certainly find its audience. Recommended.

 

Contains: violence, murder, body horror, sexual situations, insects

Posted on August 10, 2020 by , Reply
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