Captain's Library: THE SHADOW "Vampire Hall"

This story of The Shadow vs a vampire was so popular it was done three times...

...first as a Shadow pulp novel by Walter Gibson in 1942, then as the 1943 comic story you're about to read which combines elements of both the pulp and radio show versions of Lamont Cranston and his alter-ego...

...and to complete the cycle, this story was adapted into the September 1946 season opener of The Shadow radio show, entitled "Vampires Prowl at Night"!

(BTW, you can read the pulp novel "Vampire Murders" and the script for "Vampires Prowl at Night" in a recent reprint available HERE.

Unfortunately, there's no surviving recordings of the actual radio episode.)
This never-reprinted story from Shadow Comics V3#4 (1943) is written by Gibson and illustrated by Jack Binder.

The character of Varney Haldrew is named after Varney the Vampire, who was featured in the 1845 Gothic-horror story, Varney the Vampire; or, the Feast of Blood by James Malcolm Rymer.

"Varney" was a major influence on fictional vampires, including Dracula (1897), by Bram Stoker.

Many of the basic concepts about vampires including fangs, punctured necks, and hypnotic powers, originated from the popular Varney "penny dreadfuls" published from 1845 to 1847.

(Here's a LINK to Project: Gutenberg's page.)

We're hope you're enjoying our Countdown to Halloween 2013 contributions about tv/movie/radio-based comics featuring monsters (or in this case, someone pretending to be a monster)!

BURKE'S LAW "Who Killed the Hollywood Hopefuls? The Fatal Attempt"

Before we begin, a brief primer on Hollywood makeup techniques...

...courtesy of writer Paul S Newman and artists Frank McLaughlin & Vince Colletta from the inside back cover of Burke's Law #3!

That's why it's b/w instead of color!
(BTW, You can read the previous chapters in this multi-part post of the book-length tale HERE, HERE, and HERE.)

Now, with that out of the way, let's continue...

We Have Already Seen...

...several Hollywood actors killed by what appeared to be classic movie monsters come to horrifying life!

Captain of Detectives Amos Burke and his aides traced the creatures back to Gerald Grant, the now-retired actor who first portrayed all of them, and discover their primary suspect has an unbreakable alibi...

Written by Paul S Newman and illustrated by penciler Frank McLaughlin and inkers Dick Giordano, Sal Trapani, and Vince Colletta, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Burke's Law #3 (1965) followed the format of the TV show pretty closely, including the title character's continual reference to "Burke's Laws" to cryptically-explain his deductions.

We're kicking-off our Countdown to Halloween 2013 contributions with this multi-part post of the final issue of the Burke's Law comic featuring a horror movie theme.

Keep an eye on us this month as we present a number of rarely-seen TV/movie adaptation comics featuring monsters and other horror themes.

BURKE'S LAW "Who Killed the Hollywood Hopefuls?"

A TV series set in Los Angeles is bound to do stories about the entertainment industry...

...and, if it's a crime-oriented show, probably about the kind of evil that could only happen in a business that makes the unreal extremely real...

Captain Burke will clue us in, tomorrow, in Part 2, at our "brother" blog, Crime & Punishment!

Written by Paul S Newman and illustrated by penciler Frank McLaughlin and inkers Dick Giordano, Sal Trapani, and Vince Colletta, this book-length adventure from Dell's Burke's Law #3 (1965) folowed the format of the tv show pretty closely, down to the use of "Who Killed..." in the title that the show used for every episode's title.

While the show itself did several episodes about murders within the TV/movie industry, none of them contained sci-fi/fantasy/horror elements.

We're kicking-off our Countdown to Halloween 2013 contributions with this multi-part post of the final issue of the Burke's Law comic featuring a horror movie theme.

Keep an eye on us this month as we present a number of rarely-seen tv/movie adaptation comics featuring monsters and other horror themes.